Obituaries in the news

RIPLEY, W.Va. (AP) – William C. Blizzard, a journalist and historian who was a living link to West Virginia's turbulent labor history, died Monday. He was 92.

His publisher, Wess Harris, said Blizzard died at Jackson General Hospital in Ripley after a sudden illness.

A journalist, labor activist and writer, Blizzard came about his interests through his family. His father, Bill Blizzard, was a leader of the famous "Red Neck Army" of striking miners that clashed with authorities at the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, a struggle ultimately involving federal troops and a squad of Army biplanes dispatched by President Warren G. Harding.

A series of articles Blizzard wrote in the 1950s formed the basis for "When Miners March," a history of the origins and growth of the United Mine Workers and labor struggles published by Appalachian Community Services Press in 2004. The book is scheduled for a second printing in 2009.

Blizzard worked as a photographer and features writer for the Charleston Gazette for 12 years. Harris remembered him as a graceful man who was equally at home translating Latin as he was talking with union organizers.

Ford died Sunday of complications from diabetes at a hospital in Jamaica, said Paul Kelly, a spokesman for the Kingston-based Bob Marley Foundation.

The song, which appeared on Marley's 1974 "Natty Dread" album, was inspired by the Kingston ghetto of Trench Town where Marley and Ford lived in the 1960s.

Ford is credited with the tune. However, some critics contend that Marley wrote it himself but gave Ford the credit to help his friend support himself with the royalties.

Ford, who ran a soup kitchen and lost both his legs to diabetes, is also credited with three songs on Marley's 1976 album "Rastaman Vibration."

Marley died of cancer in Miami in 1981 at age 36 and remains one of Jamaica's most beloved national heroes.

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Victor Krulak

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak, who headed Marine forces in the Pacific during part of the Vietnam War, died Monday. He was 95.

Krulak died at the Wesley Palms Retirement Community in San Diego, according to Edith Soderquist, a staff member at the facility. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Krulak commanded about 100,000 Marines in the Pacific from 1964 to 1968 – a span that saw the United States dramatically increase buildup in Vietnam.

Krulak, nicknamed "Brute" for his direct, no-nonsense style, also was a decorated veteran of World War II and the Korean War.

After retirement, he often criticized the government's handling of the Vietnam War. He wrote that the war could have been won only if the Vietnamese had been protected and befriended and if enemy supplies from North Vietnam were cut off.

After retiring from the military, he worked for Copley Newspapers, serving at various times as director of editorial and news policy and news media president of Copley News Service. He retired as vice president of The Copley Press Inc. in 1977 and contributed columns on international affairs and military matters for Copley News Service.

He also wrote the book "First to Fight," an insider's view of the Marine Corps.